Undertale - Purple Perseverance
by TheFinalFireFly
Summary: The story of UNDERTALE, told by the unnamed Purple Human.
1. Chapter 1 - The Fall

Undertale Spoilers!

I don't own Undertale, by the way

 **persistence in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success.**

* * *

My foot snagged on something. I don't know what. Perhaps a vine, or a heavy stone. I was suddenly weightless. The wind was howling. I could feel myself accelerating towards my death, and yet, I was strangely calm.

No.

I wasn't calm. It was a steely feeling. A feeling of power and strength, that wouldn't go away.

I knew I would live.

* * *

I was lying on something soft and uneven. A rug? It was a little damp, and smelled odd. I opened my eyes and lay still for a few minutes while my eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. It appeared that I was lying on a bed of golden flowers, surrounded by a floor paved with large bricks. Some kind of dungeon? I picked my notebook up and stood unsteadily. My leg was sticking out at a weird angle. I jumped a little when I saw that. What scared me more was when it glowed.

The bend in my leg was glowing purple through my jeans. As it did, my leg straightened itself slowly, and stopped glowing. I went to pull my jeans up to look, and put my hand in something warm and wet. I couldn't see clearly, but I think it might have been blood. It was hard to see colour in the darkness. I pulled my hand away quickly. I'm a wimp, all right? I don't like blood.

I looked up, to see how far I had fallen. Far enough that I should have died. Getting out with a broken leg alone was lucky.

A thought struck me. What if I had died, but that glow had been there, fixing my injuries? After what I had seen, it seemed likely.

A little distance away, I could see a doorway. I walked slowly at first, unsure about my leg, but it seemed normal. Better than normal, in fact. I could persevere.

Beyond the doorway, there was another room, wider and longer than the last. A huge corridor, covered with the same bricks as the last area. Cracks webbed the floor, walls and ceiling, similar yellow flowers sprouting between them. I continued to walk, accidentally crushing a few as I went.

 ** _"HEY. DON'T YOU HAVE ANYTHING BETTER TO DO?"_**

I'll admit, I shat bricks.

"W-What? Who said that?" I asked, my voice croaking.

 ** _"_** _You're… a human?"_

"Where are you?" I called into the darkness, unable to detect the source of the voice.

 _"Down here, moron."_

I looked down at the ground.

A flower looked back.

 _"You're a human."_ It said.

"That's right." I told the flower.

I was hoping that I wasn't having some weird hallucination.

 _"Oh, boy. You must be new around here, huh? Well, I'd better show you how things work in the underground!"_ It said, giggling maniacally.

I didn't like the sound of that.

"W-who are you?" I asked, making conversation to distract the lunatic flower.

 _"I'm Asriel! Asriel the flower!"_ It smiled, his face contorting into a wicked grin with razor sharp teeth.

Vines whipped up from the floor, and as they did so, the colour faded from the world around us.

 _"We've entered a FIGHT. That heart is your SOUL. It's pretty, isn't it? Soon, it will be mine."_

Before me, a glowing purple heart hovered.

"Really, buddy, I think I'll keep it." I said, turning to run.

In response, Asriel wrapped a vine around my leg and lifted me into the air. I bashed at it with my notebook and he screamed in pain. Where I had hit it, bulging purple marks had been left, like the glow while my leg was being repaired, but these ones were clearly destructive, and they were spreading fast. Asriel was forced to cut them loose to stop the purple from spreading to him.

"Leave that child alone!"

* * *

Woo, cliffhanger. I dunno, this probably sucks. Tell me and I'll remove it. If it doesn't suck, I'll keep writing. I have a little more that I'm not happy with, so I'll fix it and upload it as another chapter if you guys are okay with that.


	2. Chapter 2 - Tu Toriel

Undertale spoilers!

I don't own undertale, sadly.

* * *

"Leave that child alone!"

A female voice echoed down the corridor, accompanied by a wave of fire, that washed over Asriel, who was forced to escape underground to extinguish himself.

"You are safe now, my child." I looked up to see a goat woman in a long robe standing over me. On her robe, there was an unusual symbol - a purple shield, with a white winged orb and three triangles below it.

The woman, whose name was Toriel, took me back to her house in the Ruins, as she called it. She made me a butterscotch pie and let me stay in an empty room, where I found some books on monster culture and history. In the morning (or, at least, what I assumed was morning, there was no day or night underground) we talked about what had happened.

"Do you know who that was, my child?" Asked Toriel.

"He said his name was… Asriel." I replied hesitantly. "Do you know him?"

Toriel hesitated, considering whether to answer. She asked, "Do you know what caused those purple marks?"

I shook my head.

"It is an ancient power called Karmic Retribution. It is given to those who are survivors. They persevere, and continue fighting. It is said that the damage from their attacks also perseveres, although I have never seen such power – it acts more strongly on those who have sinned, and can in fact do good to those who are good." Toriel told me. "Asriel is truly evil."

I was silent for a few minutes, processing that. I had a power? Like magic? I thought about telling her about my leg's regeneration, but decided against it. I needed to get out of here, and her knowing that I was even more special could pose a problem.

"How do I leave the Ruins?" I asked.

Toriel looked into my eyes. "It is impossible. The Ruins are completely sealed from the rest of the underground."

I knew she was lying.

"All right." I said, feeling the same steely, powerful feeling rising in my chest. But now it had a name. Perseverance.

* * *

I was pretty sure she was asleep. Ninety per cent sure.

I crept down the hallway of Toriel's house as quietly as I could. There was a stairway on the right, as I walked away from my room. I had a sneaking suspicion that the exit was down there. I slid down the banister, just like I used to do at home, and a wave of nostalgia washed over me. _Home._ I had to get back. I walked on, into the darkness.

The corridor was dark and damp. It smelled musty and mouldy. I suddenly came to a halt. There was someone talking up ahead. No, two people talking. Toriel and another person. Male. I waited around a corner and listened in.

"Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"Dishes."

"Dishes who?"

"Dishes a very bad joke."

Toriel burst into laughter like it was the funniest thing she'd ever heard. I have to admit, bad humour was one of my strong points, but this guy was on a whole new level.

"Oh! I've got one!" She said. "Knock knock."

"Who's there?"

"A broken pencil."

"A broken pencil who?"

"Never mind, it's pointless."

The guy sniggered for a few seconds, before laughing out loud too.

"I really should be going." He said. "Papyrus will be looking for me."

"We'll talk again soon." Toriel said warmly.

"I'm sure we will."

"Oh, you haven't forgotten your promise, have you?"

"Of course not." The man replied. I heard his footsteps as he walked away, getting quieter and quieter until I couldn't hear them anymore.

Toriel sighed. "I know you're there."

I awkwardly stepped around the corner to see Toriel sitting on the floor with her back against a giant door. It was shaped like an arch and was several metres high. Carved on it was a familiar symbol that I recognised from a history book I found in my room. It was a Delta Rune – the symbol of the Dreemuur royal family. A purple shield, with a white winged orb and three triangles below it.

 _There. That's the exit. I need to escape._

"You can go." She told me. "My friend will keep you safe."

She stood up and walked down the corridor, past me. I think she was crying.

* * *

OHHHH SHIT

seriously though you guys liked the last one

I might do weekly updates? Twice a week? I don't know. This one' came early because I wanted it to.


	3. Chapter 3 - Sansational puns

I got my update schedule sorted! Tuesdays + Thursdays! Probably. Unless I forget.

UNDERTALE SPOILERS!

I don't own Undertale, by the way. Sucks to be me.

* * *

The cold wind whipped around me as I walked through the forest. Snow covered the ground and my breath hung in the air. The whole underground couldn't be this cold, could it? I mean, it wasn't like –

 ** _Crack._**

Behind me, a twig snapped. I whirled around in surprise, to see a short, fat skeleton in a blue hoodie, black shorts and slippers. He seemed unsure as to what to do. Eventually, he held out his hand and grinned.

"hey. the name's sans. sans the skeleton."

His voice sounded familiar somehow. I reached out and shook his hand. It was a little unnerving; I could feel his joints clicking as he moved them.

"wow, buddy. you look… chilled to the bone?"

I sniggered, before realising, this was the guy Toriel was talking to through the door.

"come with me." He said. "you can rest up in our shed. just watch out for papyrus, my brother. he's been promised a position in the royal guard if he can bring in a human. ever since the first one died here, there's been a strictly no-human policy."

"What about you?" I asked.

"about me what?"

"Don't you want to capture me too?"

"nah. i don't really care about catching anybody." He sounded kind of tired, like he'd just woken up. "i'm pretty lazy, y'see."

Now **here** was someone I could relate to. While I was smart, I was also lazy and I've said before, I had a thing for bad humour.

"my house is pretty far, but that's okay. i know a shortcut."

He reached out with his left hand, and I took it. When I did so, the world around us faded to black. For several seconds, everything was dark and I considered mentioning that nothing was happening. Suddenly, the colour returned and we were standing in front of a small house.

"Did we…? How?"

"it's magic, kiddo. you should know all about it, being human."

"Humans can't do magic."

"really?"

"What else can you do?" I asked, still not sure if he was messing with me.

"oh, a ton. a skele-ton."

I groaned, disappointed that I'd been led into that joke so easily.

"come inside." He said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out the keys to the shed. He pushed them into the lock, turned the key and we stepped inside.

"It's really warm in here." I told him.

Along the centre of the room, there were five or six wooden pillars, with a few feet between them.

"What are these pillars for? Support?"

"nah. that's papyrus' human cage."

We sat down on some dog beds inside the human cage. Around us were empty boxes of dog food and a murky bowl of water.

"Earlier, when you found me in the woods, that could have been a perfect time for an introductory whoopee-cushion."

Sans laughed. It was good to have someone of a similar sense of humour to talk to.

"i think i'll sleep 'til morning. it's been a rough night."

"Didn't you say Papyrus would be looking for you?"

"huh?"

"Oh, nothing." _SHIT! I wasn't meant to know that._

"knock knock."

"Who's there?" I asked.

 ** _doris._**

 ** _Doris who?_**

 ** _doris locked, that's why i had to knock!_**

"doris."

Huh? He'd already told the joke, delivered the punchline and everything. I remembered it faintly, like a dream.

"Wait." I said. "Didn't you already tell this joke?"

"huh? no, i don't think so."

"No, you definitely did." I told him. "I said 'Doris who?' and you said 'Doris locked, that's why I had to knock!'"

"damn, you already heard that one?"

"No, I just had some weird deja-vu thing." I said.

Sans froze. "deja-vu?"

"Yeah, you know. When you think you remember something and it seems kinda familiar, but you can't put your finger on – "

"we need to go."

"What? Why?"

He looked back, his glowing white pupils gone. In their place, a burning blue one had appeared in his left eye socket.

"asriel is here."

"Go! Teleport us out of here or something!" I said.

The floorboards cracked and splintered, Asriel bursting from beneath them. His usual innocuous smile was replaced with a wide, toothy grin, which was somehow worse. His eyes were wide and furious. His petals and stem were clearly still damaged from Toriel's fire.

 _"Oh, no. You're coming with me."_

* * *

Spooky flower cliffhanger! What's gonna happen? Does Purple die? Does Asriel die? Does Sans die? WHO KNOWS? :D

P.S: I know, and I'm not telling :D Not yet, anyway.


	4. Chapter 4 - Flowers and Spiders

Undertale spoilers!

I don't own Undertale, by the way. ;-;

* * *

 _"Oh, no. You're coming with me."_

The world faded to black and white like our first FIGHT. My purple soul appeared in front of me. It was comforting, in a way.

Asriel's vines drew up from the floor and flicked towards me, wrapping around my ankles like before. This time, I was ready. I reached up and grabbed one of them, willing karmic retribution on him. Now that it was a conscious effort, the effect was even more pronounced. Asriel howled as the energy ruptured the inside of his vines, tearing them apart. I fell onto the floor between Asriel and Sans, who had done nothing so far.

"out of the way." Sans said to me. I backed away.

He raised his hand and a giant animal skull appeared floating behind him. He clenched his fist. The skull opened its mouth wide, and fired a blue-white laser. Asriel swerved around it and swiped at us with his vines, and Sans conjured bones from thin air, tangling the vines like earphones. Sans snapped his fingers and bones jutted out of the floor, trapping Asriel in a cage. Asriel looked shocked. Before he escaped underground, I heard him murmur;

 _"How could I lose seven times?"_

Sans grabbed my wrist and the world darkened. When we reappeared, it was much hotter. Like, really hot. The ground was made of orange rock, but it appeared to be constantly shifting. Below was an ocean of lava. Bubbles burst on the surface occasionally, releasing tiny wisps of gas into the air.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"this is hotland. don't come here much myself, the monsters here creep me out, and that's saying a lot – after all, nothing gets under my skin."

I winced.

"Did you hear what he said before he escaped?" I asked.

"yeah. he's one sick bastard."

"What do you mean?"

"i only know the **bare bones** when it comes to this stuff." he said, chuckling at his own awful pun. "i'll take you to see the royal scientists. they know what they're doing. i think."

Not the biggest vote of confidence.

"see over there?" Sans pointed towards a rectangular white building a little distance away. "that's the lab."

While we walked, I asked Sans some questions.

"Do you know someone called Toriel?"

"toriel? like, queen dreemurr?"

 _So. She really was the queen._

I read about the Dreemuur royal family in a history book I found in Toriel's house. There was Asgore, Toriel, Asriel and Chara. Asriel was their deceased son. Chara was an adopted human, who had fallen down, just like me. However, that had happened long ago and the book didn't say anything else about them, just that they had died, and that was the reason that monsters were hunting for humans. Toriel was the queen, who left Asgore, the king, after Chara and Asriel died. Turns out that Toriel had just been hiding in the Ruins this whole time. Meanwhile, Asgore continued to rule alone.

"Yeah. You're the person who was at the door yesterday, weren't you?"

"the door to the ruins? yeah. you're saying that was queen toriel? the idea that a previous ruler of our land has such a fantastic sense of humour warms me **to the bone**."

"You know, I used to really like bad jokes. You ruined crappy humour for me, Sans."

I didn't know how badly I messed up until after it happened. I was walking with Sans, towards the lab. I put my left foot down, then my right. I went to lift my left up, but it was stuck to the floor. I fell forwards onto my face before noticing the webs on the floor. The webs rolled up into a net, capturing me like a bug. Sans, who had been walking a little behind me was still free. He took some kind of sharpened bone and tried to cut me loose, but the net was already pulling me upwards towards Hotland's roof.

Sans had given up trying to cut me loose. "just don't hurt the spiders! they get really mad!" He called from below. Did he know what was going on? I'd probably be fine.

Probably.

* * *

Not much happens this chapter, sorry about that. It's kind of a transition thing. The next one will be a major turning point, though.

See y'all on Tuesday!


	5. Chapter 5 - Spiders and Spiders

Undertale Spoilers!

I don't own Undertale. I don't know if writing that is necessary, but I think it's a good idea just in case.

* * *

I noticed it getting hotter. Heat rises, huh. I was pulled onto a ledge in Hotland's 'ceiling'. Further forwards, there was a cave. Inside was some kind of black curtain. Wait. No. Not a curtain. Spiders. Hundreds. Thousands. Millions. I mentioned earlier that I'm a wimp? I hate spiders.

A humanoid spider, as tall as me stepped forward.

"Hello, dearie~" she giggled. "I'm Tuffet! The Royal Guard are looking for you! I got a tip off from some silly skeleton in a Halloween costume. He said you were heading around here!" She giggled again, and the colour faded from the world around us. The sound of bubbling lava from below was dampened.

I tore the web net off me and threw it to the floor. Tuffet stretched an arm out and thousands of tiny spiders dashed forwards, covering most of the ground in webs. There were only three places I could stand that wouldn't get me stuck. Tuffet began swiping with her claws, laughing as she did so.

"You know, the Royal Guard will pay us a huge sum of money for your SOUL, dearie~" she told me. "You wouldn't want to deny us money that we deserve, would you? We need it to buy more air conditioning units so we can all escape Hotland!"

I continued ducking and weaving under and around her swipes. Occasionally, her spiders would rush forward, but she clearly wasn't very good at commanding them, because they quickly backed off whenever I swiped at them with my notebook.

"You see, this heat is deadly to spiders, but with enough air conditioning units and batteries, we'll be able to escape to somewhere a little cooler!" She giggled again, and her spiders rushed forward.

I swiped downwards with my notebook and they scattered.

"I… I don't want any trouble." I stammered. "I just want to get out of here."

"Oh yes, I'm sure you'll be allowed to leave once the king has all seven human SOULS."

"All seven? How many does he have now?"

"Gosh, how would I know?" She asked.

For a minute, it had seemed like an okay idea. I could lend the king my soul and let him do whatever he wanted, and then I could go. But there was no way I could wait for (possibly) another six humans to come down here. I might not even live that long.

"Get away from me!" I shouted, hoping Sans would teleport up here and help me out. I was hoping it wasn't one of those lame teleportation powers where you could only go somewhere you've already been. Tuffet turned to the side a little and aimed her fat spider abdomen thing at me. A stream of webs shot out and I danced to the side to avoid it, falling into the webbed floor as I did so.

 _I'm fucked._

Tuffet giggled and reached out to take my SOUL.

 ** _Perseverance._**

 _No. I won't die. I can't die._ _ **I WILL SURVIVE!**_

I tore my tattered notebook from the webbed ground and struck it against Tuffet's right shoulder. As I did so, I was reminded of a paragraph from a book on monsters.

 _Monsters's bodies are not composed of matter like human's bodies are. Instead, we are made of a combination of matter and magic. This means that whatever weapon is used on a monster, a similar amount of damage is inflicted. It is the killing intent that causes damage. The will to destroy is much more powerful than the weapon._

My notebook ripped through Tuffet, beginning at her shoulder and ending at her waist. She was split in two. The color returned to the world, along with the horror of what I had done.

Another, smaller spider crept around the corner.

"Mummy…?"

"Muffet…" Whispered Tuffet. "Run…"

Tuffet turned to dust, and was blown away by Hotland's winds.

"Where did mummy go?" Asked the smaller spider, Muffet.

I looked between Muffet and the cave entrance.

"I… I…" I was speechless.

I ran towards the cave entrance and jumped.

* * *

I don't know how clear I made it, but Tuffet was Muffet's mother. The fact that Purple kills her kinda explains why Muffet prioritizes the lives of her spiders. Her whole motive became protecting the spiders and getting them to a new home away from Hotland.

Anyway. This chapter was fun to write. See y'all on Thursday!

Also, I really love reading your feedback, even if I don't reply. Leave a review telling me what you think, and if you liked it, follow the story for more!


	6. Chapter 6 - The Lab

Undertale spoilers!

I don't own Undertale. First world problems.

* * *

I hurt all over.

 _I'm… alive?_

 _Where…?_

I wasn't expecting to wake up at all. After what I'd done, I was hoping to have died in the lava. I guess Karmic Retribution wasn't letting me off easy. I sat up and looked around. I appeared to be in some kind of hospital. No, not a hospital. Probably the lab. The royal scientist's lab. Looking down, I noticed that I was wearing some kind of white hospital gown. At least, it was probably white at some point. It was covered in my dried blood in various places. It didn't really matter – Karmic Retribution would have fixed me up by now. The gown was a little long for me, and nearly dragged along the floor. I stood up, then promptly fell over again as pain shot through my legs.

 _What?_

 _My wounds aren't healing?_

No, that wasn't right. They **were** healing, but very slowly. Nothing like the 'broken leg healed in seconds' I had witnessed when I first came here. The glow was fainter, like it was unsure of itself. I remembered what Toriel told me about Karmic Retribution.

"It acts more strongly on those who have sinned, and can in fact do good to those who are good."

I killed Tuffet. In the eyes of Karma, I'm not the good person I was when I came to the underground. An unexpected wave of fury washed over me.

 _That's right. I'm a murderer. My power is turning against me anyway. I might as well kill all the monsters and be done with it._

I was shocked at what I just thought. How could I even consider that? It wasn't like some bad sci-fi fantasy drama where someone's mind is taken over by an evil spirit. I'd really considered killing them all.

My legs seemed okay now. I stood up, wobbled, but grabbed onto a nearby computer console to steady myself. As I did so, I accidentally pulled off a heart monitor and some other important looking wires that had previously been attached to me.

"Whoops," I said, as the heart monitor flatlined.

A yellow lizard monster in a lab coat walked into the room, saw me and quickly backed out again.

 _I could kill her right now!_

 _Fuck off, mate._ I told the voice.

I walked calmly out of the room and into a long, white corridor. It seemed like the lab only had two stories. The top one, the one I was currently on, had a long wooden bench with some kind of robot lying on it. Below the bench, there was a ghost, peering out at me. I jumped back a little, and the ghost melted backwards into the wall behind it. I took the escalator downstairs, where Sans and two others were drinking coffee. There was the lizard I'd seen earlier and another skeleton. He, unlike sans, had a longer face, with a couple of long, wide cracks in it. The unknown skeleton spoke first.

"Ah. I see you're awake. Quite the fall you endured. Your SOUL must be especially powerful."

"So I'm told." I said.

 _Who's this asshole to decide how powerful my soul is? I should just destroy him here._

The voice echoed in my mind again. _"What the heck?"_ I asked. " _I don't even know these people."_

"you ok, buddy? you look like you've seen a **ghost**." Sniggered Sans.

I hesitated, slightly.

"Yeah, I noticed him."

"that's mettaton. alphys is building him a robot body so he can become an entertainer."

The lizard girl spoke up. "W-well, I just really wanted to help him, and he seemed so sad being incorporeal, and… and…"

She stopped talking.

"Forgive me." The other skeleton said. His voice was rough and seemed to scrape though the air. "My name is Dr Gaster. I'm studying souls in an effort to break the barrier to the surface."

"I read all about you in a book I found." I said calmly, my earlier, spontaneous hatred of him gone.

"Yes. My work leads me to some odd places. I'd love to study your soul, if you don't mind. Sans here told me that you were intrigued as to why Asriel is so powerful – and how he seems to be able to tell the future."

"That's right." I told him.

"Asriel is a special case." He said, eying me carefully. "He was a… failed experiment. We were attempting to build a synthetic human soul to open the barrier."

He walked over to a control panel and switched it on, showing plans for a human soul, similar to mine. This one would have been pure white, it seems.

"Souls are made up of seven traits. Justice, patience, integrity, bravery, kindness, perseverance and determination."

As he listed the traits, he motioned to a colour wheel on the control panel.

"Alphys and I were extracting determination from the one human SOUL we have currently. We discovered that it is the glue that binds the parts of the soul together – and binds them to life. Alphys attempted to inject some fallen monsters with determination in order to bring them back. It worked, for a while, but just like a model covered in glue, they began to melt and disintegrate. The thirty-ish test subjects melded together into four or five monsters. We call them the Amalgamations. Alphys also experimented with injecting determination into flowers. She picked them from the King's garden, unknowing that one of them was still covered in Asriel Dremuur's dust. Once injected, it brought him back to life as a flower."

I was silent for a moment. "So… happy ending?"

"Far from it." Gaster sighed. "A creature with enough determination is able to manipulate time, or so we believe. He plays with our lives like toys in a toy box."

"So that's what my deja-vu was about. I could partially remember when he messed with time. Sans told me a bad joke, but I already knew the punchline before it happened."

I turned to Sans. "That must have been what he was talking about when he said he couldn't believe he'd lost eight times."

"seven." Sans corrected me. "but yeah. that's what he meant."

"Why not just keep trying? Eventually he'd be able to kill us."

"asriel might be determined, but he's not very patient. he must have thought it would be easier to kill us in a different place – the shed's floor was limiting his movement. we're safe here because the floor is so tough." He tapped his slipper against the floor in an effort to make a clinking sound.

I was a little surprised to hear Sans say something intelligent. I assumed he was just a lazy comedian. Guess there's more to people than meets the eye.

"I see." Gaster murmured. I didn't like the look in his eye when he glanced at me. It was like he was a god, looking down on an insect.

"If you call out your soul, we can analyse it and show how much you have of these respective traits."

I closed my eyes and willed my soul to appear. Nothing happened. "Uh… how?"

"Let me do it." Gaster sighed and flicked my ear. The colour faded from the lab and we entered a FIGHT. My purple SOUL appeared in front of me. Its glow seemed somehow apprehensive. It didn't trust the scientists.

 _I should kill Gaster. It would be so easy now that I'm in a FIGHT._

I had to stop myself from reaching out and snapping Gaster's neck. What was wrong with me?

Gaster reached out and pulled me over to the control panel, where he pushed my SOUL into a heart-shaped slot in the panel. It's glow dimmed for a moment, then returned to normal.

I looked up at the monitor, which displayed the contents of my soul.

"There's a lot of purple and yellow." Noted Gaster. He was right. The colour wheel was around 40% purple, and maybe 25% yellow.

"Those two stand for perseverance and justice, respectively. According to our human history books, when those are combined, the owner of the SOUL will have the power to judge others through an ability called Karmic Retribution."

"So I've heard." I said grimly, flashing back to my horrific display of power when fighting Tuffet.

"According to our books, most of these humans died due to being killed by their own power. They became evil, and Karmic Retribution instantly killed them."

 _Oh… shit._

 _How soon will I end up like them?_

* * *

This chapter was super long. Hope that's okay.

Leave a review and tell me what you thought! If you liked it, remember to click Follow for more!


	7. Chapter 7 - Frickin' Laser Beams

Undertale Spoilers!

I don't own Undertale. If I was Toby Fox, I'd make this a game and not a fanfic.

* * *

I retrieved my soul from Gaster's machine and the FIGHT ended.

"Come outside. I'd like to ask you something." Gaster said. He sounded unsure.

I followed him outside, confused. We stood, looking out over the lava. I glanced over at him, standing in front of me.

"You see these cracks in my skull?" He asked, slipping a finger into one of them as he turned to face me.

"I also took part in an experiment. A tiny amount of determination. Smaller than the amount of water inside a pea. We knew from our experiments that different monsters have different tolerances for determination – some could take a whole vial, some could only take a shot glass full before it became uncomfortable. As it turns out, I can't take any at all. Immediately, I began to melt." He motioned to his skull again.

"I would have ended up like the Amalgamates if Alphys hadn't stepped in and frozen the top half of my head with an experimental freeze ray she was going to incorporate into Mettaton's robot body."

"Mettaton?" I asked, vaguely remembering the name.

"The ghost upstairs in the lab."

"Oh." I said.

"Anyway, I have this now." He held out his hand to reveal an odd device attached to it. A flat, circular disc with a button on the side. "I have to refreeze my skull every eight hours. It's become a nuisance. I don't like having to rely on people or on inventions, even my own."

I was confused as to what he wanted.

"I need a human SOUL."

That cleared my question up real quick.

 _Now I can kill him! I have a reason!_

 _No. I can't._

"Having a human SOUL will allow me to thaw my skull. You don't know how painful it is."

A thought occurred to me.

"Can't you just use the one you have now?"

"Absolutely not. The king wouldn't allow it. But he doesn't know about you."

We were both silent for a moment. I knew neither of us would like what would happen next.

"Give me your SOUL."

"No." I said, my voice cracking.

Gaster sighed. He seemed worn out, tired. He just wanted to be free of pain. There was no evil or anger in his eyes like Asriel.

"Then I'm afraid I'll have to take it from you."

He spread his arms, and in each hand appeared a five-foot-long bone. He then leapt towards me, swinging them at a rapid pace. I was having difficulty keeping up - for a guy who I assumed was pretty old, he moved fast.

He swung his right bone down diagonally, and I slipped under it, grabbing it for myself. I then wrenched it from his grip and tossed it into the lava below. To my surprise, Gaster threw the other one away too. He raised his hand and a giant animal skull appeared behind him – the same attack Sans used. It opened it's mouth wide and I heard it charging.

Gaster must have seen my surprise. "You like it? I call it a Gaster Blaster. I invented them!"

I dived forward, underneath the laser blast. Looking back, I could see that it had carved a trench several feet deep and at least ten feet long. It was considerably more powerful than Sans's version. It also had much more recoil – the blaster ended up roughly three metres behind Gaster after firing.

I had landed close to Gaster and I took the opportunity to grab his arm and twist him into a headlock. My arm was wrapped around his neck and I willed Karmic Retribution to destroy him.

Nothing happened.

 _He must be innocent. Or I'm healing him._

I also noticed that attempting to strangle a skeleton was not an intelligent move. Gaster threw me over his shoulder and fired another blaster. The beam struck the ground between him and I, and I was thrown further away. I landed on my back and groaned as I felt something break. Maybe a rib.

You see that kind of thing on TV all the time – you know, the hero gets hit by some super powerful laser beam and skids along the ground, eventually rolling to a stop before standing.

That doesn't happen. Not without Karma helping you out. I felt it spread into my chest where my broken rib was, and it slowly began to mend. A gentle glow pushed through my blood-soaked hospital gown.

"So this is the great power of Karmic Retribution!" Gaster exclaimed. "It is truly incredible. I would be honoured to own your SOUL."

I gritted my teeth and stood up. My rib was pretty much done healing.

Gaster summoned more blasters, in a circle around me. I was dead. There was no way I could escape a full circle of these things.

 ** _Perseverance._**

A thought struck me. I readied my notebook in my right hand. For the first time since arriving here, I had a plan. As the blasters began to charge, I jumped forwards, landing on top of one of them and hooking my left hand into its eye socket. As it fired, the recoil threw me towards Gaster. I swung my notebook as I flew towards him, and it sliced right through his skeletal body. I landed behind where he stood and turned back to face him as he dropped to his knees.

"How… why…" He whispered, looking up at me.

 _I killed him._

A tiny, nagging voice in the back of my mind told me that was nothing to be proud of, but I ignored it.

 _He wasn't evil. He didn't do anything wrong. He just wanted to be whole again._

He began to turn to dust, that blew away in the wind.

"what the heck?"

A familiar voice behind me.

I turned to see Sans. Boy, did he look pissed.

Alphys stood in the doorway to the lab.

Both of them were staring at Gaster's dust, floating away on the Hotland convection currents.

Sans summoned a razor sharp bone and threw it at me. I leaned calmly to the left. It skimmed by my cheek, leaving a tiny cut.

"Sans, wait!" I heard Alphys call. "Gaster tried to kill him!"

" **no. gaster would never do that.** "

Sans' voice had a new intensity to it. His eye glowed electric blue. I knew I should be scared, but I stood with a smug smile on my face.

"Nope. Alphys is right, Sans."

Alphys ran up to us, holding a tablet. It showed security footage of Gaster summoning the bones and swiping at me with them. Alphys turned it off.

"You see, Sans?" She asked, turning around to face him. "Huh?"

I turned around to look, and Sans was gone.

* * *

Fight scene? Anybody? I dunno, I thought it was okay.

I'd love to hear what you guys thought of it (or any of the other chapters). Feedback is awesome, I'm always looking to improve and stuff. If you want to see more, just press Follow and.. I dunno. I don't follow any stories. I guess you get a notification or something when I update it.

See you on Thursday!


	8. Chapter 8 - Insanity

Undertale spoilers!

I don't own Undertale. I cri evertim.

* * *

I was back in the cave. The near horizontal tunnel in the roof of Hotland.

"Where did mummy go?" Muffet tilted her head to the side and looked at me curiously.

I didn't reply. It felt like I was moving through wet cement. Slow and unwieldy. I turned to run away, but a Gaster Blaster appeared in the mouth of the cave.

"I need a human SOUL."

I looked back and it was Gaster. Muffet was gone.

His face was melting rapidly.

"Then I'm afraid I'll just have to take it from you."

"No…" I said pathetically, and tried to run.

Suddenly, there was a web in my way. I was stuck.

"You killed me, didn't you, dearie?"

Tuffet was there. There was a cut snaking from her shoulder to her waist. Dust curled around her.

"The Royal Guard will pay us a huge sum of money for your SOUL, dearie~"

Tuffet reached out with one of her hands. I saw her face up close, all of her eyes blinking in turn.

She closed her fingers around my SOUL, squeezing it until it shattered into a million purple shards.

My eyes shot open and I sat up quickly. Just a dream. Likely guilt induced.

 _Because I'm a filthy murderer. And soon, I'll get worse._

I was sat in a guest room in Alphys' lab. I stood and walked towards the door.

"What was life like on the surface?" Alphys asked me.

I was surprised. Of course – monsters had been stuck down here for so long, she was probably born here.

 _And she'll die here, if I have any say._

My hand twitched towards my notebook. I had to force it to stop.

"It was… okay, I guess. I got up and went to school every day, and when I got back, I wrote stories. I must have written a hundred by now."

I opened my notebook and showed Alphys various tales I'd written. There were all kinds of stories – dragons, spaceships, superheroes, you name it. It was probably there. And of course, the unfinished tale based on the monsters that lived underground. That was the reason I came to Mt Ebott in the first place. I wanted to know more.

She flicked through them and smiled.

"These are really good!"

"You think so?"

"Y-Yeah! I really like them."

"You know, I always wanted to be an author. I wanted to write real books, that got published and famous."

"That sounds like a great dream."

We sat in silence while Alphys read my stories. I listened to the gentle beeps of the computers and thought. We were back in the lab. I'd changed out of my hospital gown and back into my regular clothes. I'd also stuck a plaster over the cut I'd received from Sans. Karmic Retribution considered me a normal person now, and didn't have any effect on me. I suppose all the good I did above ground managed to amount to two whole lives. That's something to be happy about.

I needed to get out of here, but I had no idea how. Was there even a way out?

"I need to leave the Underground." I told Alphys.

Alphys shook her head. "It's impossible. The only way out of the underground is through the Core. Beyond there, you'll find the palace, where the king lives. The exit is there."

"That doesn't sound difficult."

"Wrong. Beyond the palace is the Barrier, the magical wall that separates our world from yours. It is impassable unless you have a human and monster SOUL."

I struggled to fight down another random wave of anger and murderous thoughts. They'd been happening more and more since I'd killed Gaster. Was I going insane? Probably. Even now, I don't know. It's highly likely.

"Monsters have SOULs?" I asked, genuinely intrigued. I hadn't seen Gaster's SOUL, or Tuffet's."

"Monster SOULs are very weak. They can't sustain themselves without a body to stay in. Exceptionally powerful monsters such as the Dremuur family have SOULs powerful enough to stay for just a few moments."

"So I need to kill King Dremuur?"

"That… is correct." She sighed, and flopped back in the chair.

I stood up and grabbed my notebook from the table. I straightened my glasses as I walked towards the door.

"H-hey, wait." Alphys said hesitantly. "Do you mind if I… uhh… keep that?"

"My notebook?"

"Yeah. I want to keep reading it, if that's okay."

"Sure." I told her, putting it back on the table. Alphys probably had some cool stuff lying around.

* * *

The chapter was originally meant to end a little later, but it was getting kinda long, so I moved the end of this one to the beginning of the next.

I'd love to hear what you all think of this, so leave a review! And if you want to read more, press Follow!


	9. Chapter 9 - The End?

Undertale spoilers!

I don't own Undertale.

It's probably better that way, on reflection.

* * *

I took the escalator upstairs, and looked for a suitable weapon. Something with a bit of reach. I checked under the bench that had Mettaton's robot body on it.

"Ah ha!" I said to myself.

Under the bench was a box full of sharp objects. One in particular caught my eye – a long carving knife. Why Alphys had this, I'd never know, but it had better range than my fists and might be enough to scare some people off without killing them.

I took the escalator back down and looked around. Alphys was nowhere to be seen, probably reading my notebook.

The heavy sliding door opened and the burning Hotland air engulfed me again. I heard a heavy sigh.

I whirled around in surprise, to see a short, fat skeleton in a blue hoodie, black shorts and slippers.

"Sans." I said calmly, expecting a fight. "What do you want?"

"you need to remember something." Sans said calmly. "karmic retribution isn't your friend, or your ally. karma doesn't take a side. it's a tool. it's likely one of the most destructive tools in existence. but just because you wield it, doesn't mean it can't destroy you.

"You sure seem to know a lot about it." I said.

I turned around and looked over at the lava. He was right, really. It had already stopped helping me. I was fairly certain that murdering the king and stealing his SOUL would count as evil. There was no way out. I was also sure that doing good deeds just for karma wouldn't help either – I'd have to really mean them. But if I looked deep inside myself, I would know that I didn't really care about these people. These monsters. All I wanted was to escape.

"I'll be going now. There's only one way out, right?"

Silence.

Sans was gone.

 _He acts like he's a god or something. I wish I could crush his stupid head into the ground._

 _…_

 _Am I going insane already?_

I walked through the route Alphys had explained. Go through the Core, then you'll find yourself at the palace. Somewhere there would be the barrier.

Walking wasn't hard. It just took time. I didn't have a map of the core, but after ten minutes of checking every passageway, I found one that looked right. A long metal bridge, with an elevator on the other side. I crossed the bride, and stood in front of the elevator. It was strange to see something so ordinary, so human, after everything I'd been through.

My reflection in the metal door stared back at me. A dark shadow appeared behind the reflection, and I turned around to look. Nothing there. Just a trick of the light.

I pushed the button and it beeped gently. The doors slid open and I stepped inside.

The elevator ride was short, but felt like an eternity. Every second seemed to drag. Finally, the doors opened, and I found myself in a dimly lit corridor made of grey bricks. It was familiar somehow.

I walked slowly through the corridor, the sound of my footsteps echoing against the walls. My heart was in my throat. I could sense that my journey was finally over. I was filled with **Perseverance**.

A few minutes of walking later, I reached a tall, grey brick house. That jolted my memory. This whole place seemed to be the same design as the Ruins. Oh, duh. The Ruins. That must have been the king's old palace. The exiled queen lived there because it was familiar to her. And so this… this was the house of the king.

 ** _"Howdy!" came a high pitched voice._**

 ** _"No." I refused to believe that it was him._**

 ** _"It's me, Flowey!"_**

 ** _"Who?"_**

 ** _"Ugh, I messed up my entrance._** _"_

I spun around. "ASRIEL? I KNOW YOU'RE THERE!"

 _"And how would you know_ _ **that?**_ _"_

I looked down to see Asriel looking up at me. He had a malevolent, curious glint in his eye, as always.

"I can see it. You messed up your 'entrance' and went back to make sure you looked cool."

 _"I… that didn't happen."_

There was a short, comical pause between us that really didn't fit the mood.

 _"Anyway. It's me, Asriel! Or rather, not Asriel anymore."_

"You mentioned 'Flowey'."

 _"That's right! I'm a new person. I wiped my slate clean. I've asked for forgiveness for my actions. And I meant it. Now, I'm a new person. Your power has no effect on me!"_

"That's not how it works. You can't just decide that you're innocent." I spat. After all, I was the wielder of Karmic Retribution. If anybody had the right to judge anyone for their actions, it was me.

 _"Oh, no. That's exactly how it works. You have to really feel sorrow and genuinely ask for forgiveness. And I did, for a while. I had to get real close to the king's stolen yellow soul to make it work."_

For a moment, we were both silent. We both stared at each other, the air rippling with our hatred for each other and ourselves. I raised my knife. Asriel – no, Flowey didn't move.

 _I'm sick of dealing with your shit. I'm going to mash your stupid flower face into the ground. I'm going to kill you over and over, no matter how many times you RESET._

I swung the knife downwards, and Flowey, leaned to the left. Time slowed to a crawl. I could see my blade, falling sluggishly towards the ground. It was going to hit him.

It was going to hit him.

Shit.

My blade effortlessly sliced off a petal.

 _"Hehehe. You missed._ _ **Idiot.**_ _"_

I suddenly felt a gut-wrenching pain in my stomach. I doubled over, coughing blood. "W-what did you do?" I demanded, fury burning in my eyes.

 _"Nothing!"_ Exclaimed Flowey. _"You attacked an innocent, and now Karmic Retribution is punishing you."_

"No… I can't die here!" I was forced to my knees as the pain spread to my legs. The purple energy rippled along my skin, bursting and tearing it open.

 ** _Perseverance._**

I swung the knife again, missing Flowey by a hair.

 _"Hehehehe! Hahahaha! HAHAHAHA!_ _ **YOU IDIOT**_ _!"_

Heavy footsteps echoed up ahead.

 _"No! You always ruin everything!"_ Hissed Flowey.

 _It must be the king!_

For the first time since I was caught by Tuffet, my mind was clear. I had to survive. I had to keep going. I had to **persevere**.

I slumped onto the ground and watched Flowey disappear to avoid being caught by whoever was coming. I looked up to see an old goat man, like Toriel, looking down at me. I couldn't tell if he was angry, or sad, or surprised. Karmic Retribution had spread to my eyes, blurring my vision.

As I closed my eyes for the last time, I felt my SOUL leave me.

And Flowey didn't have it.

* * *

Oh, boy! Purple is deaaaad!

I'm pretty sure you all knew it was coming. I mean, they were dead at the end of Undertale, nobody should have been surprised.

Also, thinking about writing one for the Green Soul as well.

Anyway, that's the end.

Or is it?

OOOOOO SPOOKY GHOST NOISES


	10. Epilogue - The End

Undertale spoilers!

I still don't own Undertale.

* * *

I could feel Flowey's presence. It was… imprinted over mine.

 _So Flowey got my SOUL in the end. That really sucks. I'm not alive anymore, either. I died just how Sans told me I would._

But I could still feel. I could feel Flowey's rage. His confusion. And I could feel… other things, too. Six others.

"Hello?" I called out.

But nobody came.

I looked out at Flowey's form. He was nothing like the seemingly harmless flower I'd known. His face was an enormous screen sprouting metallic tubes that hung him from the ceiling. He had four eyes and a vertical jaw lined with human teeth. Thick green vines covered in spikes constantly flowed out of either side of his 'head'.

Flowey was using our power, the immense power of six human SOULs to take on an enemy.

I focused on them for the first time. A short human with a blue and purple striped shirt, and shoulder length brown hair. Their SOUL was pulsating red. The colour of determination. That must be why Flowey was trying to kill them. He wanted more power. More control.

Save.

Load.

Reset.

The power of a god.

The human dodged between waves of bullets and seeds, fire and vines. They were truly determined. Each time they were hit, their SOUL split apart, but then they reappeared a moment later. Whenever they got the chance, they jumped forwards and struck Flowey with something. A weapon. I couldn't really see it.

The Red Human disappeared, and I could sense their SOUL, making contact with the others.

Finally, they came to me. I willed my SOUL to morph into my old form. I still glowed purple, unfortunately, but I did look reasonably human.

"Hello." I said, surprisingly calm. Ever since Karmic Retribution had turned on me, my mind had been freed of insanity.

"Hi there." The red human reached out, and we shook hands. As we did so, I noticed a familiar object in their free hand.

"Hey… is that my notebook?"

They held up the object, and sure enough, it was my tattered notebook.

"Oh, is this yours?" Asked Red. "You can have it back if you want."

"No, keep it. I'm dead now, I think, so it's not like I can use it. Just out of interest, where did you get it from?"

"This old tortoise called Gerson sold it to me. I originally bought it as a weapon, but I also like reading it. The stories are really great."

"You think so? I hate reading my writing."

"Yeah, they're really good. Anyway, I need your help."

"I can see that." I smiled. "But I can't. Flowey has control."

"No, he doesn't. You ever hear of determination?"

"Yeah, but… I don't have as much as you."

"Just keep fighting back. I think you're nearly there anyway – you must have hated Flowey more than any of the others."

 _Flowey can't control me. I am a human SOUL. I am one sixth of his stolen power._ _ **He is nothing if the SOULs work together.**_

Flowey's control ended abruptly. I spread my arms, and my energy weaved from my glowing form into Red.

Before I could even speak, Red's wounds were healed. A broken nose, burns, and various slashes on their arms were all repaired in an instant.

"Thank you. I need to go now. Flowey has no power left. I'm going to make him realize it."

"Hey, wait a minute." I told them. "You know… I always wanted to be an author. Carry that dream on for me, okay?"

"I will." Red looked back over their shoulder and met my eyes.

Then they vanished in a flash of red light.

A minute or two passed.

I looked out into the black void to see Red, badly injured, standing before Flowey, encircled by a ring of his bullets.

" _Now… DIE._ "

The ring shrunk and shrunk.

 _No. I can't let them die. Not after all they did for me._

The other SOULs had the same thought. Together, we destroyed Flowey's attack and healed Red.

 _Thanks, everybody._

That thought, we thought it together. All of us. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Cyan. And Purple.

" _What…? How did you…? Never mind. I'll just…"_

Text appeared on Flowey's screen:

 **LOAD FAILED.**

The five other SOULs and I burst from Flowey, then attacked him together. He was brought to nothingness.

A tiny, wounded flower, his power to reset stripped from him. I left Red to decide his fate. If there was anything I'd learned, it was that I was unworthy to judge people.

Now, I was finally free.

* * *

Haha I tricked you all :D You thought it ended for real because I didn't update yesterday! Nope, I was just still writing this.

Anyway, it's over now. I'll probably write one for the Green Soul at some point. I dunno.

kbye


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